“I’m like the kid who graduated high school and never went away.”
This is my one-liner when introducing myself professionally and explaining my connection to the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership (KFP). In 2011, I was a fourth-year science teacher at City of Medicine Academy, a health science magnet school in Durham Public Schools. That year, my instructional coach encouraged me to apply for a Kenan Fellowship.
In 2012, I received my fellowship and embarked on a journey that changed my understanding of myself and the trajectory of my career, culminating in July of 2022 when I was hired as the director of KFP. Across the decade between my fellowship and my hiring, KFP kept me engaged through offering opportunities to grow my leadership and to deliver meaningful programming for new fellows. More importantly, though, KFP cultivated my deep belief that teachers are changemakers who move society forward, and that teachers are professionals who are worthy of investment.
Honor expertise, respect professionalism, invest in growth
When I assumed stewardship of KFP I began reading “Start with Why,” by Simon Sinek. The core of his charge was that organizations should be clear on the why underlying their existence before planning the how and what of their work. So charged, I began working to understand KFP’s undergirding why as a guide for my thinking about the future of the program.
My search started with reflections on my own experience as a fellow and conversations with our team. Four of us are fellowship alumni who valued the program enough to come back to lead it forward. Each of us recognized that we felt valued when we were fellows and that our connection to KFP opened doors to new opportunities. Building upon this foundation, I talked with our alumni and read more than 70 alumni interview transcripts. Clear messages emanating from these voices spoke what the team and I felt:
- “KFP treated me like a professional.”
- “KFP told me I could influence education AND remain in my classroom.”
- “KFP invested in my growth.”
- “KFP helped me create opportunities for students.”
- “KFP made me more confident in my leadership.”
- “The Kenan Fellowship did not just change me — it elevated me. And because it elevated me, it has elevated every student who walks through my classroom door.”
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Where teachers, industry, and community unite
The consistency of these stories and their resonance with my own is by design. In 2000, the directors of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science (KIETS) at N.C. State University and a handful of advisors sought to bring university research to K-12 students.
Recognizing that university researchers lacked the experience to authentically bridge the divide between laboratories and K-12 schools they engaged K-12 teachers as translators and bridge builders. This team of founders chose to diverge from the traditional model of Research Experiences for Teachers (RETs) programs.
Rather than simply offering a laboratory immersion experience, they recognized that transmission from the lab to K-12 schools required holistic teacher development. Thus, they created a one-of-a-kind fellowship model that paired STEM immersions for teachers with residential pedagogy and leadership institutes wrapped in the language and intention of treating teachers as professionals.
Twenty-six years later, KFP is a statewide force for educator leadership and growth in North Carolina. What started with eight teachers and a handful of NC State labs has grown to 680 fellows in 85 N.C. counties and two Virginia cities, and engagement with more than 50 university, industry, and workforce organizations annually. KFP now leverages a portfolio of five programs (Kenan Fellowships, Fellows Faculty, STEMwork, Mountains to Sea, Not Your Average PD) to serve 150+ educators annually across NC and 15 states.
Each of these efforts focus on providing teachers with opportunities to step into the field and return to the classroom with new vision. The fellowship combination of STEM immersion plus pedagogical and leadership development is the only one of its kind in the country and a powerful tool for both retaining teachers in the classroom and building North Carolina’s future workforce.
From one teacher to an entire community
Our work depends on industry partners who understand that the resources they invest in hosting a teacher during the summer return to them many times over as the teacher builds a durable bridge between their classroom and the industry.
These teachers open doors to apprenticeships, skilled trades, and training programs nearby. Their schools build ties to local employers, colleges and universities. Their communities benefit when students see futures worth staying for and pathways that lead back home.
Collectively, KFP and its collaborators have built a transformational model rooted in the assertion that investing in teachers strengthens communities.
Join the educators shaping North Carolina
To this end, KFP invites all NC teachers and education stakeholders to allow us to invest in them at this summer’s Reigniting Teacher Passion conference, presented by KIETS and hosted by KFP on Aug. 3-4, 2026 in Chapel Hill. In true Kenan fellows form, this conference will be fueled by the potent combination that powers KFP: teacher expertise plus industry partnerships.
Across two days, attendees will attend traditional concurrent sessions, plus an educational technology playground, a professional share fair that connects them to additional opportunities and resources, topic-driven Ed Camp discussion forums, a keynote panel, TED-style talks, byte size PDs, and industry site visits. All sessions will be presented by teachers and for teachers and will showcase the deep expertise of the KFP network.
Fourteen years ago as a fellow I found “my people,” innovative educators who thought outside the box and ran classrooms that marched to the beat of their own drum. This summer we invite all of those who teach our state forward to come find “their people” in a community of other teachers who are shaping North Carolina.
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